Good for Her Announces 3rd Annual Feminist Porn Awards

2nd night of screenings added

TORONTO — Canadian retailer Good for Her is set to present its third annual Feminist Porn Awards the night of Friday, April 4, and this time around, there will be a follow-up evening of screenings of some of the nominated titles, along with Q&As with their makers.

This year's awards are also the first being produced by new Good for Her manager Alison Lee, who took over in October for previous manager Chanelle Gallant. The awards showcase independently produced adult fare with which many women and other porn consumers may not be familiar.

"The sad fact is that things that can be considered feminist porn are still not entirely abundant," Lee told AVN. "A lot of the films that are considered for our awards are [found through] a lot of research on Good for Her's part. We are always looking for new and interesting films to carry and consider for the Feminist Porn Awards. It's really important to us as a store to be able to offer a lot of different DVDs that are difficult to find elsewhere. And a lot of it is self-nomination, as well. Increasingly, we've had people start to recognize the Feminist Porn Awards and send us their films in consideration for those awards."

The question remains, however, what exactly can be considered feminist porn?

"Feminist porn can be really hard to describe and pin down," said Lee. "Essentially what we look for is that a woman had a hand in the production or the writing, that it shows genuine female pleasure and expands the boundaries of sexual representation on film. Beyond that, though, I think it can be a little bit tricky. Generally, I think, showing genuine female pleasure and being created with women and couples in mind are two of the big hallmarks of feminist porn."

The 2008 nominees for the Feminist Porn Awards certainly do meet the above criteria. "We've got a pretty diverse lineup," said Lee. "One film that I'm personally really excited about right now is Five Hot Stories for Her by Erika Lust and Lust Films. It's five vignettes that are very obviously with a female viewer in mind. We also have a film by a local filmmaker called Want that deals with sex and disability, as well as a website called GoodDykePorn.com."

Other works in the running include Trans Entities by Morty Diamond and City of Flesh 6: Lisa's Little Secret by Estelle Joseph. Major past winners have been Candida Royalle, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural ceremony in 2006, and Tristan Taormino, who picked up trophies for her House of Ass and Chemistry, among other efforts. The award itself is known as the "Emma," after pioneering feminist Emma Goldman.

The Third Annual Feminist Porn Awards take place April 4 at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West), with doors opening at 9 p.m. The ceremony is being hosted by Trey Anthony, with performances by Daddy K & the Rhythm Method, Coco La Crème and Dainty Box, plus spinning afterward by DJ MissRuckus.

Tickets for the awards are $15 in advance or $18 at the door. Tickets to Saturday's Feisty Feminist Porn on the Big Screen at Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Ave.), also beginning at 9 p.m., are $12. Passes for both nights can be purchased in advance for $24.